UT-Battelle, LLC, acting under its Prime Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for the management and operation of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), is seeking commercialization partners for its USB Architecture for Removable Media (USB-ARM).
While the convenience of USB devices and removable media increase business productivity, they also provide an attack vector for malicious software. To address this security vulnerability, some organizations have physically disabled USB ports or required that all devices be scanned at a common central location. These approaches sacrifice convenience for increased security. Most commercially available security products do not provide a complete solution to the problem. The USB Architecture for Removable Media (USB-ARM) provides the benefits of centralized scanning with the convenience of typical removable media. USB-ARM creates operating system drivers that sit between removable media and the user and applications. The drivers isolate the media and submit the contents to a virtual machine containing an entire scanning system. This scanning system then performs scans or other verification routines to ensure the media do not contain malware. Once cleared, the media are presented to the operating system, at which point they become available to users and applications. USB-ARM provides quick scanning, user transparency, flexibility, and scalability. With USB-ARM, users can have convenient access to media while organizational security goals are met.
More information can be found at this ORNL Technology Transfer website.
License applications will be evaluated based on prospective partners' ability and commitment to successfully commercialize the technology, with a preference for United States-based businesses and small businesses.
For additional information and license application, contact David Sims, Commercialization Manager, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, simsdl@ornl.gov , 865-241-3808.
David Sims, Commercialization Manager, Phone 865-241-3808, Email simsdl@ornl.gov - Carol D. Rader, Technology Commercialization Specialist, Phone (865) 241-0898, Fax 865-574-9241, Email radercd@ornl.gov